Two ‘Bodies’ Of Jesus – Which One Is The Eucharist.

[reyb]

According to Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologiae, - THIRD PART (Questions 1-90)\Question 14: Of The Defects Of Body Assumed By The Son Of God\Article 1 - Whether the Son of God in human nature ought to have assumed defects of body? - Article 1 - Whether the Son of God in human nature ought to have assumed defects of body?
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.... It was fitting for the body assumed by the Son of God to be subject to human infirmities and defects; and especially for three reasons.

First, because it was in order to satisfy for the sin of the human race that the Son of God, having taken flesh, came into the world. Now one satisfies for another's sin by taking on himself the punishment due to the sin of the other. But these bodily defects, to wit, death, hunger, thirst, and the like, are the punishment of sin, which was brought into the world by Adam, according to Rom 5:12: "By one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death." Hence it was useful for the end of the Incarnation that He should assume these penalties in our flesh and in our stead, according to Isa 53:4, "Surely He hath borne our infirmities."

Secondly, in order to cause belief in the Incarnation. For since human nature is known to men only as it is subject to these defects, if the Son of God had assumed human nature without these defects, He would not have seemed to be true man, nor to have true, but imaginary, flesh, as the Manicheans held. And so, as is said, Phil 2:7: "He . . . emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man." Hence, Thomas, by the sight of His wounds, was recalled to the faith, as related John 20:26.

Thirdly, in order to show us an example of patience by valiantly bearing up against human passibility and defects. Hence it is said (Heb 12:3) that He "endured such opposition from sinners against Himself, that you be not wearied. fainting in your minds." (from Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2003 Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

On the other hand, according to Catechism of Catholic Church, PART ONE, THE PROFESSION OF FAITH, SECTION TWO -THE PROFESSION OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH, CHAPTER THREE
I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT, ARTICLE 11 "I BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY", How do the dead rise? Paragraph 997- 1000

997 What is "rising"? In death, the separation of the soul from the body, the human body decays and the soul goes to meet God, while awaiting its reunion with its glorified body. God, in his almighty power, will definitively grant incorruptible life to our bodies by reuniting them with our souls, through the power of Jesus' Resurrection.

998 Who will rise? All the dead will rise, "those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment."552

999 How? Christ is raised with his own body: "See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself";553 but he did not return to an earthly life. So, in him, "all of them will rise again with their own bodies which they now bear," but Christ "will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body," into a "spiritual body":554
But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?" You foolish man! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body which is to be, but a bare kernel. . . . What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. . . . The dead will be raised imperishable. . . . For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality.555

1000 This "how" exceeds our imagination and understanding; it is accessible only to faith. Yet our participation in the Eucharist already gives us a foretaste of Christ's transfiguration of our bodies:
Just as bread that comes from the earth, after God's blessing has been invoked upon it, is no longer ordinary bread, but Eucharist, formed of two things, the one earthly and the other heavenly: so too our bodies, which partake of the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, but possess the hope of resurrection.556
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Now since Thomas Aquinas is mentioning Jesus’ body with defect while CCC is mentioning a different ‘glorious body’ of Jesus Christ in reference to Jesus’ body before and after his death and resurrection, may we know which one of these two bodies is the Eucharist (or body) offered by Christ to Catholics?

[CatherineM]

I'm wrapping Christmas presents today. It's early, but they have to be sent to the US.

[thessalonian]

First of all I don't think "two bodies" is an appropriate theological way of looking at it. It is one body glorified and the Church teaches that the body while he was on this earth became glorified in the resurrection. So I must be missing something in your post.

[thessalonian]

oops

Edited November 20, 2010 by thessalonian